BURLINGTON, Vt. – Colgate overcame a 12-point second-half deficit before giving way to some big shots down the stretch and Vermont left with a 78-68 victory Wednesday afternoon inside Patrick Gymnasium.
 
The Raiders finish non-league play 4-9 and head into the Patriot League portion of the schedule on the heels of their first four-game losing streak since December 2017. Colgate lost seven of its last eight after beating Syracuse on Nov. 20. 
 
Trailing 43-31 at halftime, Colgate stormed back with a furious 16-4 run over a nine-minute stretch to tie the game at 47-47. Ryan Moffatt keyed the run with seven points, including the game-tying 3-pointer, Keegan Records scored four, and Tucker Richardson had three as the Raiders were 6-of-14 from the field during the run.
 
Vermont (8-4) started the second half 1-for-11 but found its stroke when it mattered most. Tied again at 57-57 after Richardson sank 1-of-2 from the line with 5:51 left, the Catamounts immediately shot back with triples on back-to-back possessions to take the lead for good.
 
The Raiders were never closer than six points the rest of the way.
 
For the second straight game Richardson came away with a season-high scoring effort. He finished with 21 points to lead three Raiders in double-figures. Jack Ferguson scored 16 and Records 13.
 
Colgate shot 44.6% (25-of-56) from the field but was held to a season-low six 3-pointers (6-of-19) and finished just 53% (10-of-19) from the free throw line.
 
It was a back-and-forth start through the early stages of the first half. Colgate's aggressive defense kept Vermont from penetrating offensively and the Catamounts were tested from behind the arc. The Raiders led by as many as seven 25-18 but then Vermont found its stroke over the final eight minutes.
 
Backed by eight 3-pointers in the first half, the home team scored 17 of the last 20 points of the stanza to take a 43-31 lead into the break. 

Colgate scored the first five points of the second half and overcame the 12-point deficit but couldn't quite pull it together over the final eight minutes.
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
 
"When we built this schedule, and I'm the one responsible for the schedule, we upgraded the competitive level significantly. We're not used to being 4-9 but we're not used to this type of schedule either. I am hopeful the group can be resilient enough to learn from these games and have them help us during conference play.
 
"We have to get healthy for sure. We'll keep our heads down and take advantage of this break to spend some time with our families before getting back to work in preparation for a conference schedule that's going to come at us really fast. We'll be ready for Lafayette."

UP NEXT
Colgate returns to the court on Saturday, Jan. 1, for the Patriot League opener at Lafayette. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. with ESPN+ carrying the livestream.